Book Summary:
The Silent Patient meets Rebecca in this twisty debut about the mysterious death of a woman with congenital analgesia, a rare condition where she can’t feel any pain – and an obsessive journalist who will stop at nothing to uncover her most dangerous secrets.
Meet Eva, who can’t feel pain, and Anna, who can’t escape it.
Everyone has heard about the case of Eva Reid. Ever since she was born, she’s been immune to physical pain – she can get a paper cut, break a limb, and even give birth without feeling a single thing. Her rare condition has long-captivated reporters and researchers – including Dr. Nate Reid, Eva’s husband and acclaimed scientist renowned for his work in The Pain Laboratory. Also among them is Anna Tate, a ruthless journalist with a dark past of her own.
When Eva is suddenly found dead inside her home, it raises a flurry of questions around the last night of her life – and who might’ve been involved. Anna finds herself growing increasingly obsessed with Eva’s case: her cloistered, painless existence, her promising career as a psychotherapist, and especially her toxic relationship to Dr. Reid, whom she met and married as his former patient. But what other secrets could they be hiding?
When Dr. Reid embarks on the process of writing a book about Eva, Anna makes sure she’s first in line to work on the project with him. As she slowly inserts herself into their home and seeks to uncover what’s fact and what’s fiction, shocking discoveries await her – and not everyone may come out unscathed…
Purchase ‘You Can’t Hurt Me’ at HarperCollins, BookShop.org, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Books-A-Million, and Target
Photo by Linda Nylind
About the Author:
Emma Cook has been an editor at the Guardian for 16 years, commissioning on Guardian Weekend, editing her section, Do Something, and now assistant editor and travel editor of the Observer magazine. She has written for various titles, including the Guardian, the Independent, the Times, the Daily Telegraph, ES Magazine, Elle, and Psychologies. She is an alumna of the Faber Academy’s six-month Writing A Novel course, and You Can’t Hurt Me is her debut novel.
